How to look taller

We all know that not all people are blessed with height. There are lots of people that are below average height. However, if there is any consolation, it is that you can make yourself look significantly taller.

First and foremost, take pride in yourself. If you are constantly berating your lack of height, the negative thoughts will have an adverse affect on your life. Remember, there isn't a shortage of short people that lead totally normal lives and their height does not seem to put them at any disadvantage because they have ability in other areas.

Here are some tips that will make you seem taller than you actually are.

Lose weight

Being short and overweight will make you look even shorter. This is because you are likely to slouch forward caused by too much weight hanging in front of you. This will adversely affect your posture.

Posture

• Having the correct posture will go a long way to making you feel and look taller. Incorrect posture can make even people who are relatively tall appear shorter than their actual height. A slouched posture can take an inch or two off your height in appearance.

• You can correct posture by ensuring that you always sit with your back against a chair's support and being conscious of the fact the you will need to keep a correct posture at all times.

Clothing

Avoid wearing baggy clothes. Baggy clothes can look embarrassing on most people, but even more so on short people. It seems to accentuate the lack of height.

Have a complete makeover of your wardrobe. Buy clothes that are comfortable and the right fit. A great tip on looking taller is to buy clothes for the upper and lower part of your body that are matching in colour.

Also, avoid clothes that are too tight, this can also accentuate the lack of height because it will expose the frame of the body.

Stretching

Although it is unlikely that stretching makes people taller physically, some people would provide testimonial to that effect. Many people swear that they have grown anything up to 2 inches as a result of stringent stretching programme to lengthen their spine over a period of months.

Doctors and scientists have not been able to verify this as actual physical height gain, rather it has effectively improved posture and straightened the spine and so it appears as height gain.

Of course, people in their teens doing such programmes might have had this increase in height as a result of a late growth spurt.

Bulking up

If you are short and also very skinny, it might be time to hit the gym and gain a few pounds of muscle and bulk up a bit. People that are short and also skinny can appear tiny and almost have a childlike appearance. However, do not go over board and bulk too much because short people that are too muscular can look puffy and again accentuate the appearance of their lack of height.

You have to try and build a physique with elongated looking muscles. This can make you appear taller because it gives the impression of longer looking muscles thus a longer body parts.

A great way to do this is to join a pilates class or do weights that are not too heavy but heavy enough to stress the muscles and be comfortable doing around 10-12 repetitions in a set. Also, do plenty of stretching both prior to and after doing your work out sessions.

Avoid supplements

Unfortunately, there are no magical ways to grow taller. In your desperate quest to grow taller, you will probably come across sites selling products such as supplements and equipment that promise to make you physically taller. Unfortunately, there is no way of actually becoming taller once you have reached appoint where the bones have fused or ossified. This usually happens around the age 18-21.

• Avoid any supplements that are claimed to have human growth hormone. As said earlier, once people have their bones fused, there isn't a way to get any taller.

• Some sites claim to release dietary information containing certain types of food that will make you taller. Again, this is nonsense. It is just way for them to sell their ebooks.

After this point, the only option is surgery to elongate the femur bone in the feet; however, this is an extremely expensive surgery and one that is only provided to people who are desperately short, making life unbearably difficult or to those involved in freak accidents.

Kimi to grow taller

There are host of products like Kimi, invented in Japan, promising to make people taller within a matter of weeks, but these are nothing but “snake oil”, a derogatory term used for products with no validity in their claims, are invented simply to rip people off that are desperate in wanting to gain and inch or two.